The Swadhyay Parivar is a group of people in a family setting who study the Vedic scriptures and carry out variousactivities of self development ( swadhyaya literally means study of self for a spiritual quest) in a devotional way. Pandurang Shastri Athavale worked throughout his life, going hut to hut and heart to heart, bringing thoughts of Geeta and unexpectational love, meeting the people of all walks of life to share proper understanding of Vedic scriptures like Bhagavad Gita , Vedas and the Upanishads . He treated fellow humans as brothers and sisters and motivated them to understand the relationship that one has with others due to presence of indwelling God in each and every one of them. His followers go house to house with an outlook of divinity in alland the message of Bhagavad Gita to develop brotherly relations by. For his efforts he was awarded the Templeton Prize in 1997, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership and India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.